he hoped that lord would not have it in his power to retard business as he had done."* At the same time, his lordship stated, that the utmost degree of prudence was necessary with the queen, who could not easily be persuaded to lay aside the good opinion she had entertained of my lord Oxford, and, therefore, they behoved still to have a little patience, lest he should fly off, and, joining with the whigs, add to the many difficulties that already lay in the way of their favourite object. His lordship's apology, however reasonable, was not at all palatable to the deputies, who either did not understand, or did not sympathize with him under his already multiplying embarrassments; and they threatened his lordship, though they would not desert the queen, with the adoption of such measures as they thought most conducible to their purposes, without regard to the views either of himself or lord Oxford. When they applied to their brethren, however, "they found so many, even honest, well-designing persons, wheedled over by my lord Bolingbroke, that they were constrained to suspend the execution of several material projects which they had formed."+

One of these projects was another attempt at dissolving the Union, which we find Lockhart pressing upon his four associates of whom we have already taken notice, as so successfully prosecuting their enterprises against the Scotish church-as what was necessary for compelling the ministry to greater activity, and as what, in the present state of parties, with prudent management, they might easily obtain. Three of these gentlemen, however, Mr. Murray, Mr. Carnegy, and Sir Alexander Cuming, in prospect of advancing their own personal interests, "had been at a good deal of pains to ingratiate themselves with the lord Bolingbroke; they fawned upon and flattered him to an intolerable degree, and devoted themselves absolutely to him; which suiting with his vanity, they became his particular favourites, and, looking upon him as the rising sun, they expected mighty things from him, and gave themselves prodigious airs, as if nothing relating to Scotland should have its rise and proceed but from and by

* Lockhart Papers, vol. i. pp. 441, 442.

† Ibid. p. 442.

themselves." The consequences of so much expectation were such as every reader will readily anticipate: "they opposed what Lockhart aimed at with a great deal of warmness; they said that my lord Bolingbroke was a good man and a wise man, and knew what was fit to be done and when to do it; that for any private set of men to pretend to drive the ministry, was taking too much upon them; that, for their parts, they would have no concern in such measures, and, if others did pursue them, they did not doubt but they would repent it."

An union of views, that had continued for so many years, was thus at once broken up; and that, too, at a time when unanimity was of the last importance. After a few weeks, however, they agreed to make one effort more in behalf of the Scotish episcopalians; and Lockhart, who had already given abundant proofs of his zeal, was again employed as the framer of a bill to be brought into parliament, "for resuming the bishops' revenues in Scotland, and applying the same towards the relief of the episcopal clergy, and the support of such ministers as should accept of, and lay claim to the benefits of the toleration act." Lockhart was at first rather shy; but, after being assured that the queen was sincere and hearty in the measure, looking upon the application of these revenues to other uses as nothing less than sacrilege, and that he might expect the hearty concurrence of both Bolingbroke and Marr, he seems to have entered upon the project with his usual warmth, and without any loss of time or trouble, as he had a bill lying by him to that effect, that he had intended to have brought forward several years previous to this. A difference, however, happily arose among them, respecting the extent of the resumption, some of them wishing, for the sake of their friends who enjoyed salaries there, to spare that which had been granted to the universities, while others, among whom was Lockhart himself, insisted that it should be an unlimited and unconditional resumption, very justly, in their own way, regarding that part which was bestowed upon the universities the most mischievously applied of the whole, "seeing these universities at present were seminaries of rebellion and

* Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 444.

schism." Owing to this difference of opinion, some of the party became, first scrupulous about the propriety of prosecuting the subject, then cold supporters of it, and at last its avowed enemies. Some of the nobility, too, had, in the meantime, represented it to the queen as a measure fraught with danger to the internal tranquillity of the country, which awakening her fears, she declared she would withold her assent to the bill, should it even pass both houses, and it was dropped, though with great reluctance.

A plan was also brought forward for new modelling the Scotish militia, and assimilating it exactly to that of England. This also met with violent opposition from many of the Scotish members, who, by dexterously taking advantage of a thin house, succeeded in postponing the discussion to a day so distant, that the parliament was prorogued before its arrival, and the measure, of course, fell to the ground.

During this session, the subject of the succession was often introduced, and addresses were carried in both houses, for having the pretender removed from Lorrain, where he had resided since, in terms of the peace, he had been obliged to leave France. It was, at the same time, proposed to set a price upon his person, dead or alive, which was violently opposed by the party supposed to be his friends; yet, not long after, the queen, of her own accord, and without any previous notice, moved in the council that a reward of five thousand pounds should be offered for his person, should he attempt to land in any part of her dominions; which the house of commons next day voted should be made one hundred thousand.+ What moved the queen to take such a course has never been fully explained. The probability is, that amidst the clamour of faction, which was every day becoming more appallingly terrific, and the extreme avidity manifested by both the aspirants to the succession, she was seized with the terror of having them both in England at the same time; in which case, she seems to have thought, that her own authority would be of very little consequence. It is impossible, indeed, to conceive

Lockhart Papers, vol. i. pp. 447, 448.

Supplement to the History of the Reign of Queen Anne, p. 303. Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 471.

of any situation more unhappy than that in which her majesty was now placed by this struggle of contending factions. With a degree of prudence, which forms the brightest lineament of her character, she laboured to conceal her partialities, though they were most certainly not in favours of Hanover; and while she was agitated with conscientious scruples, in possessing a throne to the exclusion of the legitimate heir, and solicitous to make compensation by securing to him its reversion, she was not less solicitous for the welfare of her subjects, and the preservation of the protestant religion, to which, with all her weaknesses, there is every reason to think she was a true convert. Her attachment to this religion she had made known to her brother, the pretender, as he was styled, and she had made his conversion to it the term upon which alone she could really and effectively befriend him. This term he had obstinately rejected, and, by so doing, had deeply offended her. Now, however, there appeared, on his part, some disposition to relent. Either by chance or choice the most part of his popish followers were absent from his court; the famous nonjuror, Lesley, was sent for to officiate to those protestants that were with him at Bar-le-duc, and he himself wrote a letter to a person in England, highly recommending the doctrines of the episcopal church, and promising to give every reasonable security in its behalf, all his desire for his subjects being "to make them a flourishing and happy people."* This, while it tended to sooth her vanity, and to re-invigorate her declining affection, by inflaming the zeal of all who felt interested in the protestant succession, and exciting their efforts for its preservation, awakened her fears, and threw her into a state of indetermination, that every day became more distressing. The natural vacillation of her temper was also, at this time, greatly aggravated by the efforts of the persons about her, in whom she placed the greatest confidence. On the one hand, lady Masham wrought on all her family partialities, and was the agent of continual representations from the courts of St. Germains and Versailles; on the other, she was assailed by the dutchess of Somerset, who, like the

* Stuart Papers, 1714.

dutchess of Marlborough, no less artfully wrought on her dread of popery, and zeal for the protestant faith."* But whatever were the motives which prevailed with her majesty to issue the above proclamation, the effects were greater than, perhaps, either party could have anticipated. Lockhart says, "that whilst the Jacobites solaced themselves with the hope of the speedy restoration of the king, and were impatient for the word, to fall on and effectuate what they had so long desired and aimed at, their wine was suddenly mixed with water, and they met with what vexed and surprised them exceedingly," [viz. the above proclamation]. "The whigs,” he adds, "looked on this as so mighty a turn in their affairs, that I heard the earl of Stair say, in the court of requests, he looked upon this as the most glorious day Britain had seen of a long time."+

as

Though the prospects of the Jacobites, previous to this unexpected act of the queen, were thus cheering in England, they do not appear to have been mending much in Scotland for a considerable length of time. The warning emitted by the commission of the General Assembly against popery, and the increase of Jacobitism during the preceding year, appears to have awakened a very general interest throughout the country, and to have called forth the exertions of the friends of the Hanoverian succession in no ordinary degree. This warning, the General Assembly, which met at Edinburgh, on the sixth day of May, 1714, took care particularly to approve, seasonably impressing the minds of the people, with loyalty to her majesty, firmness to the protestant succession in the house of Hanover, and just aversion to the pretender, which they followed up, by an address, containing a very plain statement of sundry grievances, of which, the encroachments of the nonjuring episcopalians appear to have been none of the least; and in replying to her majesty's customary assurances, "of her care to promote true piety and godliness, by employing such persons, as shall be faithful, in duly executing the laws, against profaneness and immorality," they observe with no little point, "We humbly presume to persuade ourselves, that

* Coxe's Life of Marlborough, vol. iii. pp. 553, 554. + Lockhart Papers, vol. i. pp. 471, 472.